August 2019 - The Boxing Shop

TBS-The Early years with Dave & Fe

Dave Thompson was the first home grown boxer from The Boxing Shop.A kid who walked into the backyard shed as a 17 year old studying cert 3 in fitness and had already been through 2 knee reconstructions.
Dave came down to the shed with Fenella Schmidt to gain some fitness and learn some skills and together they both acquired a passion for boxing and helping people.
Fe and Dave were studying their cert 3 and 4 in fitness together and saw the boxing shop grow from a few people training in a backyard shed to opening the new facility at Griffith University in 2007.Both were instrumental in the early years of building The Brand to what it is today.
At TBS we have always had pride in our team spirit,Whether you are a kid,adult or competitive athlete we hope to provide the same level of support for everyone.
Both Fenella and Dave were instrumental in building the team culture when they became coaches at TBS,Dave still has people mentioning his name when talking about the Ab sets he used to torture them with.
Daves highest honour as a boxer was representing Qld against New Zealand at the Tattersals club in Brisbane,where he beat the Kiwi Champion over 4 x 2 minute rounds.
“I remember sending Dave out on his first Job which was to train an under 20’s football team,He was nervous because everyone was older than him and I dont think he (Dave) had even turned 18 yet,i just said go and be in charge and everything will fall into place”,Dave obviously made a great impression as the club chose to book him in for more sessions.
Fenella walked away from her bank job in the early years of TBS because she was so passionate about helping people achieve their goals and she saw the TBS vision from the early days of training in the shed.

Dave Thompson and Fenella Schmidt had a great impact on peoples lives and when they both decided to change their career paths,we were happy for them but also sad at losing these two TBS legends.
Lets get them both on the podcast and you can hear the early days stories straight from the horses mouth.

Golden Gloves Tournament 2019

Congratulations to the whole team this week at the Annual Golden Gloves tournament.
It was a great opportunity for most of our boxers to test their skills and continue moving forward.
We won some and we lost some, that’s how it goes.
A message to all Boxers starting out.
– To win boxing matches as a novice boxer (under 20 fights),Please don’t try and emulate your favourite boxers who have had 100+ fights.
Learn and improve the basics such as hand positioning in attack and defence,balance and practise your basic moves religiously.
In time you will shape your own style,In the meantime,listening is the way to learn.

“I certainly hope this will become a program offered by all schools.”

“Our student group engaged very well in the program and the interaction in the program flowed into the school with students showing continued effort and respect to each other and the community”.
The above sentence is one of many references that have poured in from schools and community groups since the Boxing Beyond Barriers program started .
“We believe our program gets through to all kids who are in need of a little bit extra,our program is about structure and learning that there are consequences for your actions,whether that be positive or negative” said program manager Gareth Williams.
The BBB program is currently working with 16 Schools per term and are ready to take the positive program all over South East Queensland, “We are improving lives,that what this program is all about,we cant wait to take the program to every school to give kids an opportunity ,we are helping the kids who aren’t A grade students,they need to know that they can still be successful ” said Williams.
Below is a Reference written by a parent of one of the students in the program.

“……………. was going through a very tough period in life both socially and emotionally. ……. was withdrawn, mentally fragile and finding it hard to work at school. My ………. was fortunate enough to be selected for the mentoring program offered by the school. This program was run by The Boxing Shop in conjunction with the Police and the PCYC. It covered the basic techniques of boxing and fitness. The holistic approach of the program meant that the participants were also encouraged and nurtured to have positive mentality outside of the program. After a term, my ……….. has become fitter, much more confident and focused at tasks. As a result of this program, my ……….. attitude towards life’s challenges has changed for the better. ……… grades at school have picked up and ……. sets goals to achieve. ……… new found love of boxing is something ……. will continue to pursue beyond the program.

Having seen the results, I certainly hope that this will become a program offered by all schools.” A very happy Parent

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The Letter to Wayne Bennett

After opening The Boxing Shop in 2007,Gareth Williams set his eyes on improving himself as a coach. With a background of Elite Gymnastics,Rugby League and Boxing Gareth knew there was so much more to coaching than just general boxing training and hoping a kid with talent walks through the door.
“In the middle of 2007 I wrote a letter to Wayne Bennett,I was so nervous writing the letter and I changed my mind many times on whether I should send it or not” said Williams, “My letter said,I want to be one of the best coaches and I want to learn the extra things like man management and dealing with different personalities rather than just boxing ….I reckon my letter was on Wayne’s Desk for 2 minutes and I got a phone call from Dean Benton saying I was welcome anytime to come and watch training sessions,so I jumped at it,I went down the next day and my aim was to stay for a week and learn as much about coaching as possible”.
I met everyone at the Broncos and they were very welcoming and happy to show me around and teach me as much as I wanted to know. “After the week ,I spoke to Wayne and thanked him for opening the doors for me to have an inside look as to how the team and coaching side of things operated,he said would you like to come next week as we are doing some different things,so I jumped at the chance”.During the second week Gareth was asked to bring his pads and work with a few injured players which was a good way to say thanks for the invite.
From this time moving forward Gareth and The Boxing Shop has had good relationships with the Brisbane Broncos , former Players and Staff and continue to work with them in many ways.
Life is about relationships,If you treat people right,they treat you right.

Raising money for Charity with Denan Kemp,Gerard Beale,Corey Norman and Alex Glenn

Building TBS from the ground up

Starting The Boxing Shop was a dream that started with $0 and a lot of hard work.
I’ve heard many comments both direct and indirect about how we are “so lucky because we have a big club” yet everybody laughed when I said im going to open up a full time boxing gym, ” you cant make boxing work,your better off staying in your job and do it slowly” well 14 years later we now have the Gym,Athletes, School programs, employees from our students and a community group that cannot be beaten (imagine if I had have stayed in the job I hated and done it slowly….20 years plus it would have taken me to have any success).
Most people don’t know that building from my mates backyard shed to where we are now, drawing zero dollars for many years has been a struggle, but one I would not change.
After growing from day one,my aim after many meetings was actually to open The boxing shop at Chandler in the current badminton space. I actually believed I was going into a meeting to sign a lease when the bomb was dropped.”sorry mate but we have decided to stay with Badminton as our tenant”,I felt hollow and lifeless as the meeting continued and I couldn’t get out of the building quick enough,I sat in my car in the car park for a few hours just going over the thoughts in my head and driving myself crazy thinking ,where did it all go wrong?
Looking back now this was the best thing that could have happened to me as I pulled together all my contacts and resources and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I was training a university group at Griffith,Nathan Campus ,twice per week where an old football coach of mine was the guy who had set this up,after the meeting with Chandler I had a 6 pm class at Griffith , as I walked in sheepishly and said to my old mate,”you don’t want to open a boxing gym do you” ,Maybe said Marty,and as they say the rest is history.
We talked terms and as I was on the bones of my arse financially,i needed a lease where I didn’t have to pay rent for a short time,so we arranged that I would provide classes and Boot camps for students and staff to help fund my way as I got started.
An other small problem was,not only did I have any money,I also had no equipment other than 4 pairs of gloves and 4 pairs of focus pads,so I had to think outside the box as to how I could deck out my boxing gym without any equipment.
I organised a meeting with Madison sports to discuss the opportunity that Id been given with Griffith University ,to cut a long story short, we came to terms in the meeting and I walked away with a 70% equipped boxing gym just minus a few items including a boxing ring ,so i was ready to open the doors in Feb 2007.
As Ive always said,you have to think outside the box if you want to succeed,You have to do what others are afraid of doing,Who cares if you fail,at least you had a go!

Listen to The Podcast to learn more about the Early days Starting in a backyard shed
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-boxing-shop-started-in-a-shed/id1443803831?i=1000424545882

Gareth Williams

Li’l Boxers – since 2011

Back in 20011 We started working with Martial arts specialists Thomas Jithin and Bill Wakefield.
Our aim at The Boxing Shop was to work with Different people who have had successful organisations with sport rather than just working with Boxing organisations.The reason being,Martial arts seemed to have correct processes and structure in their organisation where boxing seemed to be all about fighting.
When TBS originated, the number one aim was to create a team based environment where everyone would feel welcome,so we decided to search around for leaders in their own fields .
We spent some time researching and learning how kids enjoyed structure in classes yet still had fun.
Anyway our bright Idea was to start an Under 8s class where we would work with kids from 3 years old. The classes started slowly as no one had done this in boxing before but once we stuck to our guns and used structured yet fun classes for the kids ,we started to grow rapidly.
We had channel 9 do a news story on our Under 8s program with Parents,Kids and Professional people all willing to speak highly of the program. see below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mif-r0KHZYI
Our Lil Boxers Class is on Mondays at 3.45pm and everyone gets a free week through here to sign your kids up for a free trial week
https://www.theboxingshop.com.au/contact/

Brad Hore : The Other side

Brad Hore is everyones mate,a down to earth funny man who should have been riding winners at Flemmington rather than getting punched in the face by world class boxers for fun.
There is a serious side to Brad and it took him years to work out. Brad is a loving family man and a man who can give back to his community through his own experiences as an athlete and choosing to turn his life from an athlete to a well respected member of society who works with young people to improve their lives.
As an athlete everyone sees Brad as an International class boxer who represented Australia and Oceania at two Olympic games,two world championships and two Commonwealth games. Ive heard people in awe of Brad say “wow your so lucky”.This sentence is the worst thing anyone can say to a successful athlete as luck may have less than 1% to do with the equation,the 99% comes from sheer hard work and a vision that you will achieve your goals.
Brad Lost his first nine fights as a young boxer,where many people would have quit due to school mates saying he was rubbish etc,Brad kept going because he always had a dream of representing his country at the highest level and he always believed this would happen.
If you listen to the podcast,You will hear Brad talk about reaching your goals and that it doesn’t matter who is the the under 16 champion of the world because only senior boxing really matters.
“Too many parents and coaches get caught up in the world of ,My kid is the golden gloves champion or my kid has won 15 fights and only lost three where he or she was ripped off anyway….none of it really matters,give the kids a break and let them enjoy the sport ,they will work out what you have to do if you want to be a winner,that’s the lesson boxing gives us,making decisions whether it be a good decision or a bad one” said Brad.
Brad never earned a cent through his 214 Amateur fights and lived on the bread line for many years as he traveled around the world searching for his own measure of success.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney,Brad failed to make the 48kg weight division at only 17 years old and believes this is where his mental health issues started “yeah I think this is where it all started because when I left the Olympics,I was the kid that didnt make weight and thats how everyone knew me,I didnt know how to deal with it so I suppose I ran away from sydney and moved to the Sunny coast just to escape “.
Brad is now Happy in his own skin,he is in a happy relationship with a 1 year old son and a job where he can speak his message to young people to hopefully inspire the youth into believing in themselves.
Brad Hore – a leader,a worker,a goal driven man,an inspiration but more importantly a very good Human.

Podcast with Brad Hore and The Gand JB Show
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-13-with-brad-hore-thegandjbshow/id1443803831?i=1000446941106